-Wandering Minstrel is underrated. Yes, it can discard your Golds and Silvers. But if you're building an engine, that's still not a BAD thing. And if you're buying villages, you're probably building an engine. It's kind of like if Golem discards your treasure... and that never makes me feel Golem is a worse card. I think it is the #1 $4 village, but... perhaps #2.
I agree that it is better than I first thought. I still have to play more with it. But the 2 big problems are undeniable: Looter games and the problem of putting 3 terminal actions on top of the deck without being able to do anything against it.
Problem #1: Yes, it doesn't clear off the ruins, but neither of the other villages do either. So sure you could clear off Golds and leave ruins, but the ruins weren't going anywhere anyway. So effectively you have to ask yourself- "Is the average value of my action cards greater than or less than the average value of my treasure cards plus my victory cards plus my curse cards?" And if the answer is no, chances are it isn't an engine, and chances are you would have been better off with a silver.
Problem #2: Yes, it can leave 3 terminal actions on top. But, that means the top 3 cards were terminal actions. And if you had played any other village, there STILL would be 3 terminal actions on top (barring FV and an estate, but edge case). So it's still not really worse in this situation.
-I think it's a mistake to have Cutpurse so far away from Militia. Their attacks are very similar early, and that is when the attack matters most. Neither attack really does much if your opponent has KC-KC-Torturer... but for early game economy, they are very similar.
I disagree. On boards with good trashing available where you have want to build a good engine losing 2 cards can really hurt. Cutpurse only hurts about the first 2-3 reshuffles, is better in multiplayer and is still decent against BM.
Well, I agree that Militia is better. I think I put it about 5 higher, and I think that Militia deserves to be that much higher or maybe a touch more. It's looking like it could be a good 20 spots higher though, and that IS too much.
-How haven't we seen Salvager? It is effectively Remodel. I put it down in the 40s, and I am shocked it hasn't been seen yet.
No, definitely not. I'm exaggerating, but there's a big different between Workshop and terminal $4. I hope you see what I mean. And you can use Salvager just to trash and don't have to gain anything, unlike Remodel.
Yes it can trash, but it isn't particularly good at it. Both Salvager and Remodel are more useful in engines than in BM, and generally speaking in engines, there is SOMETHING you want at less than or equal to $4 for you to remodel your estates into. And if there is a $2, you can turn your coppers into. Because mostly speaking, Salvaging your coppers is not so hot. Plus, Remodel adds $2 of value to your deck every time, while Salvager adds $0 of value to your deck every time. Most of the good Salvager tricks (a la, BV, Peddler, Gold-->Province, Province-->Province) work the same or better with Remodel. I think both are overrated, but Salvager much much moreso.